China's Lunar Calendar 2015 08-08

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs"  

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦
8/13................................................................................................................8/6

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar calendar, along with basic translation and minimal interpretation. Unless you have been studying lunar calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing. There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar.

Section One

Solar Calendar Date
八
日

六期星

Eighth Month, Eighth Day

Astral Period Six
Saturday, August 8

———————————————— 

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

十天母
靈喜倉
Maternal Granary
Heavenly Happiness
Ten Spirits

—————————————————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰子
吉凶中
酉己丑

吉吉凶

戌午寅
凶中中
亥未卯
吉中中

23:00-01:00 In-Between
01:00-03:00 Inauspicious
03:00-05:00 In-Between
05:00-07:00 In-Between

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious
9:00-11:00 Auspicious
11:00-13:00 In-Between
13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious
17:00-19:00 Inauspicious
19:00-21:00 Auspicious
21:00-23:00 Auspicious

The hours above are for Hong Kong. It is up to you if you want to recalibrate or to assume that the cyclicality of the calendar "covers" the rest of the world. This is a greater interpretive challenge than you might think.
                             —————————————————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌
針作修
灸灶廚
Repairing Kitchens
Stove Work
Acupuncture and Moxibustion

—————————————————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information 

廿
四
丙
辰
土
氐
成
Twenty-Fourth Day (Sixth Lunar Month)

Cyclical day: bingchen (53/60)

Phase (element): Earth

Constellation: Foundation (3/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)*
*Several times a year, as today, a "personality" repeats.

—————————————————  

Section Six
Appropriate Activities
and Miscellaneous Information
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

秋立
零四寅
一時正
分       

宜

成理會
服髮友
安安嫁
葬牀娶
至風涼
四血月
撃忌厭

————
Beginning of Autumn
At the yin hour; 4:01 AM
(the thirteenth of twenty-four fifteen-day solar periods on the agricultural calendar)

Appropriate Activities
Meeting Friends
Marriage Alliances
Patterning Hair
Positioning Beds
Completing Clothing
Positioning Graves

Cool Winds Arrive

(the thirty-seventy of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar) 

 

Baleful Astral Influences

Lunar Repression
Blood Taboo
Four Fisticuffs

Section Seven

Inauspicious Stars 
白 地
White, Earth

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous

廚

栖 灶

Kitchen
Perch, Stove